Variable condition motor controller

Abstract

An aerial vehicle, comprising: one or more motors, one or more sensors, and a flight sub-system. The one or more sensors configured to detect data. The flight sub-system includes an attitude controller module; a rate controller module; and a compensator module. The compensator module is configured to: determine a maximum RPM of the one or more motors or a maximum torque of the one or more motors; receive a torque vector from the rate controller module; determine a rotational speed of the one or more motors to generate a desired flight orientation based upon the torque vector; and consider sensor data from the one or more sensors to adjust the rotational speed of the one or more motors.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An aerial vehicle, comprising:
 one or more motors; 
 one or more sensors configured to detect data; and 
 a flight sub-system comprising:
 an attitude controller module; 
 a rate controller module; and 
 a compensator module; 
 wherein the compensator module is configured to:
 determine a maximum RPM of the one or more motors or a maximum torque of the one or more motors; 
 receive a torque vector from the rate controller module; 
 determine a rotational speed of the one or more motors to generate a desired flight orientation based upon the torque vector; and 
 consider sensor data from the one or more sensors to adjust the rotational speed of the one or more motors; wherein the rate controller module is in communication with the attitude controller module so that changes to the torque vector that are requested are compared to the maximum RPM of the one or more motors or the maximum torque of the one or more motors. 
 
 
 
     
     
       2. The aerial vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein the data comprises data indicative of environmental conditions including current or projected pressure, temperature, and humidity. 
     
     
       3. The aerial vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein the torque vector comprises thrust, roll, pitch, and yaw. 
     
     
       4. The aerial vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein the attitude controller module determines a maximum allowable kinematic change that can be maintained without the aerial vehicle losing flight status. 
     
     
       5. The aerial vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein the compensator module adjusts the one or more motors based upon feedback information that comprises the data of the one or more sensors. 
     
     
       6. A method of controlling an aerial vehicle performed by a flight subsystem, comprising:
 detecting environmental conditions with one or more sensors; 
 determining a maximum RPM of one or more motors or a maximum torque of the one or more motors with a compensator module; 
 determining a torque vector with a rate controller module; 
 providing the torque vector from the rate controller module to the compensator module; 
 calculating a rotational speed of the one or more motors; 
 generating a desired flight orientation of the aerial vehicle based upon the torque vector; 
 adjusting the rotational speed of the one or more motors based upon the environmental conditions from the one or more sensors; and updating the maximum RPM of the one or more motors with an attitude controller module so that an RPM provided to the one or more motors falls below the maximum RPM. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6 , wherein the environmental conditions include current or projected pressure, temperature, and humidity. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 6 , wherein the torque vector comprises thrust, roll, pitch, and yaw. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 processing the rotational speed of the one or more motors iteratively so that the rotational speed of the one or more motors does not extend beyond the maximum RPM and to ensure that the rotational speed desired is achievable by the one or more motors. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 providing feedback information from the compensator module to an attitude control module so that the attitude control module limits kinematic changes of the aerial vehicle. 
 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the kinematic changes comprise translational and angular position, velocity, and acceleration of the aerial vehicle. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 validating every one of the kinematic changes to ensure that a desired kinematic change does not cause the aerial vehicle to lose a flight status. 
 
     
     
       13. An aerial vehicle comprising:
 one or more motors; 
 one or more sensors configured to detect environmental conditions; 
 a flight control subsystem comprising:
 a compensator module comprising:
 a conditions adjustment module configured to adjust one or more factors of the one or more motors based upon the environmental conditions that are detected by the one or more sensors; 
 an iterative mixing module configured to adjust torque values associated with the one or more motors; 
 a converter module configured to change a speed of the one or more motors based upon the torque values from the iterative mixing module; and an attitude controller module that is configured to determine a maximum allowable kinematic change that can be maintained without the aerial vehicle losing flight status. 
 
 
 
     
     
       14. The aerial vehicle of  claim 13 , wherein the one or more factors of the one or more motors comprise a thrust coefficient and based upon an air pressure and air temperature that is detected by the one or more sensors the thrust coefficient is adjusted to control the aerial vehicle. 
     
     
       15. The aerial vehicle of  claim 14 , wherein the conditions adjustment module is further configured to adjust limits of the one or more motors based upon the environmental conditions detected. 
     
     
       16. The aerial vehicle of  claim 15 , wherein the limits of the one or more motors comprise a maximum RPM of the one or more motors. 
     
     
       17. The aerial vehicle of  claim 13 , wherein the iterative mixing module, when changing the speed, further reviews the adjusted speed to ensure that the adjusted speed does not exceed a predetermined amount of speed.